There is pressure on BCCI to honour MOU, says PCB official

Karachi, Nov 21: A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said that there is pressure from the international cricket community on the BCCI to honour the MOU signed with the PCB.

Najam Sethi, who was Chairman of the PCB when the MOU was signed last year to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023, said on Friday that they were also plans to invite a Commonwealth team to Pakistan.

"I can tell you this that the President of the England and Wales Cricket Board Giles Clarke is scheduled to meet with Shashank Manohar in Dubai this weekend," Sethi said on Geo News channel.

"Giles is helping us in our issues because he is also head of the task force on Pakistan cricket in the International Cricket Council (ICC) and is working on bringing a Commonwealth team to Pakistan," Sethi who is now head of the PCB's powerful executive committee said.

"I can't say much at this time but we know this much that the meeting between Clarke and Manohar (the President of the BCCI and Chairman of the ICC) is important since India is under pressure to fulfill the MOU with us," Sethi said.

Clarke is also scheduled to visit Lahore with a security expert to assess the security situation in Pakistan. Sources in the PCB told PTI that a visit by a Commonwealth team to play some matches in Lahore and perhaps Karachi could be the plan B by the Pakistan board incase India does not agree to play the first series of the MOU in December in the UAE.

The BCCI President has said that India will not play in the UAE and it is ready to host Pakistan in India. But Sethi said that since he had signed the MOU he was clear that there was a clause clearly stipulating that the series has to be played in the UAE.

"They (India) have no excuse for not playing in UAE the MOU is between PCB and BCCI and it states clearly that the series will be held in the UAE or any other mutually accepted venue," he said.

"According to them this could be India and according to us it is Pakistan but it is clearly written that the December series first choice venue is UAE."

He said BCCI shouldn't try to distort facts and the ICC had never advised any team not to play in Pakistan and secondly the MOU was not signed under the ICC umbrella.